Labor Union Representation Statistics for States

Just over 16 million workers were represented by unions in 2016, accounting for 12 percent of the U.S. workforce. Over the past few decades, both union representation and union membership rates have slowly declined.

As a share of the total workforce, union representation is highest in New York (25 percent), Hawaii (21 percent) and Alaska (20 percent). By comparison, union workers account for less than 5 percent of the workforce in Georgia, Louisiana, North Carolina and South Carolina. Factors influencing the presence of labor unions include types of industries employing workers and individual states' right-to-work protections.

The following table lists estimated 2016 labor union statistics by state. Note that a small number of nonunion members are represented by union contracts, so union representation is slightly higher than reported union membership estimates.

State

Union Representation Rate

Union Represented Employees

Union Membership Rate

Union Members

Alabama

9.0%

170,000

8.1%

153,000

Alaska

19.9%

59,000

18.5%

55,000

Arizona

5.5%

151,000

4.5%

122,000

Arkansas

5.0%

59,000

3.9%

47,000

California

17.5%

2,796,000

15.9%

2,551,000

Colorado

10.8%

263,000

9.8%

238,000

Connecticut

18.4%

288,000

17.5%

275,000

Delaware

13.3%

56,000

11.4%

48,000

District of Columbia

10.7%

37,000

9.5%

32,000

Florida

7.1%

574,000

5.6%

456,000

Georgia

4.9%

210,000

3.9%

165,000

Hawaii

20.9%

125,000

19.9%

119,000

Idaho

6.8%

47,000

6.1%

42,000

Illinois

15.3%

856,000

14.5%

812,000

Indiana

11.4%

335,000

10.4%

304,000

Iowa

10.5%

153,000

8.9%

129,000

Kansas

10.3%

132,000

8.6%

109,000

Kentucky

13.4%

228,000

11.1%

190,000

Louisiana

4.9%

88,000

4.2%

76,000

Maine

13.5%

77,000

11.4%

65,000

Maryland

12.3%

347,000

11.0%

310,000

Massachusetts

12.9%

407,000

12.1%

381,000

Michigan

15.5%

651,000

14.4%

606,000

Minnesota

15.2%

388,000

14.2%

365,000

Mississippi

8.1%

90,000

6.6%

73,000

Missouri

10.7%

290,000

9.7%

262,000

Montana

13.9%

58,000

11.9%

50,000

Nebraska

8.5%

74,000

7.4%

64,000

Nevada

15.0%

182,000

12.1%

146,000

New Hampshire

11.0%

74,000

9.4%

63,000

New Jersey

16.6%

666,000

16.1%

644,000

New Mexico

8.2%

64,000

6.3%

49,000

New York

25.2%

2,075,000

23.6%

1,942,000

North Carolina

4.1%

174,000

3.0%

129,000

North Dakota

7.0%

25,000

5.5%

20,000

Ohio

14.1%

702,000

12.4%

617,000

Oklahoma

6.6%

97,000

5.4%

80,000

Oregon

15.8%

267,000

13.5%

228,000

Pennsylvania

12.7%

724,000

12.1%

685,000

Rhode Island

16.9%

81,000

15.5%

74,000

South Carolina

2.6%

52,000

1.6%

32,000

South Dakota

7.0%

26,000

5.2%

20,000

Tennessee

6.4%

174,000

5.7%

158,000

Texas

5.3%

606,000

4.0%

462,000

Utah

6.0%

79,000

4.7%

62,000

Vermont

12.9%

37,000

11.5%

33,000

Virginia

6.0%

226,000

4.3%

160,000

Washington

18.7%

577,000

17.4%

539,000

West Virginia

13.2%

88,000

11.8%

79,000

Wisconsin

9.0%

244,000

8.1%

219,000

Wyoming

7.3%

18,000

6.3%

16,000

SOURCE: BLS, 2016 annual averages

Historical State Union Representation Data

Statistics indicate union membership among private sector employees has slowly declined for the past several decades. For the public workforce, union membership has remained stable: